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European brown bear in the animal enclosure in Neuschönau (picture from June): The skins were used in the past
Photo: Dominik Kindermann / IMAGO
People have always looked for ways to protect themselves from the cold - 300,000 years ago, bearskins were used in what is now northern Germany.
This is suggested by bone finds from the excavation site at the Schöningen research museum in the Helmstedt district.
A team of scientists from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, among others, discovered conspicuous cut marks on the metatarsal and finger bones of a cave bear.
The study was published in the Journal of Human Evolution.
"Cut marks on bones are often interpreted in archeology as an indication of the use of meat," said Ivo Verheijen, one of the authors of the study, according to a statement.
But there is hardly any meat to be gained from hand and foot bones.
"In this case, we can trace such fine and precise cut marks back to the careful removal of the fur." It is one of the oldest examples of this type in the world.
Notes on bear hunting
"The site of Schöningen plays a crucial role in the discussion about the origin of hunting, because this is where the world's oldest spears were discovered," Ivo Verheijen continued.
There is relevant evidence that people at that time also hunted bears.
"If only adult animals are found at an archaeological site, this is usually taken as an indication of hunting - and in Schöningen all bones and teeth found from bears belonged to adult individuals."
In addition, a bear skin would have to be removed promptly after the animal died, otherwise the hair would be lost and the fur would become unusable.
'The animal was skinned, it couldn't have been dead long at that point,' said Verheijen.
Schöningen is an internationally known site for the Paleolithic period.
In the 1990s, the oldest hunting weapons known to man were found in the former lignite opencast mine.
The discovery of the approximately 300,000-year-old wooden Schöninger spear was considered a world sensation.
In 2017, the almost complete skeleton of a Eurasian forest elephant was also discovered here.
ani/dpa